"Breeder Alert" System

[tveley]

My Donnerhall mare, Donnabelle, gave us a gorgeous, tall, very energetic Quaterback filly at 12:48 AM. She is chestnut with chrome like her sire. A definite keeper!

Thank goodness for Breeder Alert!! We JUST got their newest system and put the tranmitter on her halter yesterday. It works VERY well, I would have missed the arrival without it. The system called my cell phone and woke me out of a dead sleep and then called my barn staff as well. I got to the barn about 5 minutes before the filly was born. My staff got there a minute before I did.

Donnabelle was not due for another week and was bagged up, but not waxing at all. We just had time to bed the stall with straw and get the towels, foaling kit, baby blanket, etc. All of that had been on the schedule for today when she was scheduled to begin 24/7 observation!!

I highly recommend this new system! We had inherited, (but never used due to replacement parts needed) the original system (over 15-20 years old) when we bought the farm 2 years ago. I contacted the company a year ago to see about getting some parts to make it functional and was advised to wait until this newest system was available due to the vastly improved features such as the ability to call multiple cell phones, pagers, etc., and the ability to handle and identify signals from several different mares at the same time.

[crownridgefarms]

I am pretty sure I am going to purchase the Breeder Alert. A camera isn't really an option for my situation :(
Glad you recommended this!

[Signature]

We love our Breeder Alert! Combined with milk testing and cameras it makes foal watching about as foolproof as it could possibly be (never 100% of course!) :). It also minimizes sleep loss! ;) Two specific times it has definitely saved us.

Congrats on the new arrival!!!

[ise@ssl]

I have the older Breeder Alert and am trading up to the new one. It's worked very well for us and I've been using it for about 12 years.

[JoZ]

Confirm for me what it does? Is it based on the angle of the chip or card? So as long as the mare is standing or lying sternally, fine, but when she lies flat out... brrrrrrrrrrrring?

Do people get a lot of false alarms? How is rolling interpreted? My mares seem to roll quite a bit, positioning the baby or relieving pressure, in the last two weeks of gestation.

[Cataluna]

We use the Breeder Alert at my barn. Lucky for me (not), the system was malfunctioning when my mare went*, but was quickly repaired and has been great ever since. It's also about 20 years old by now, which may have something to do with it. :winkgrin:

For all the other foalings they've had over the years, it's been perfect. Never missed a birth, very few false alarms. By the time they put it on, the ladies are usually too uncomfortable to lay flat out to nap.

From what I understand JoZ, there's an alarm that sounds when the mare's been down for longer than 10(?) seconds. My BO keeps the alarm on her nightstand.

*Note: We were aware it wasn't working properly, and had to check on her the old fashioned way. Didn't miss a thing!

[Dutch]

Great! But you are posting without pictures of the filly?? Don't keep us hanging, please . . .

[Crossroads Farm]

That sounds like a beautiful filly! Just wanted to chime in that that's why I don't ever rely on due "dates." I go by due "months!" I have a couple mares that routinely foal at around 325 days, and don't necessarily show wax- I'm ready for them with straw down and a foaling kit ready a month before what would usually be considered a due date!

[Cindy's Warmbloods]

Where is the best place to purchase the breeder alert? Is there somewhere cheaper than other places? Anyone have one to sell? I would be interested. How far away do they work?
Is this the one everyone has: http://www.breederalert.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=4 ?
I thought they were closer to $800-$1k is why I am asking or have they gone down in price?

[Signature]

WOW! Maybe we should upgrade to that - ours is like a million years old I think and is a big blue box. It still works fine though I guess! :) I thought they were more $$$ also!

[Cindy's Warmbloods]

On their main page it says if you have an old model ask how you can upgrade to a newer one.
Now that I read it more it does say something about "new lower pricing" on the products page.

[tveley]

I had the old blue box type too, (the one I inherited) but the new one is really sleek and can even identify WHICH mare is foaling if you have multiple transmitters (I bought 4). I keep it in the barn office (it can be mounted on the wall), since it will call me on my cell phone wherever I am.

I bought it directly from Breeder Alert. I do not know if any other place sells the systems. The price was really reasonable, but I do not remember exactly what is was. I will check tomorrow, the receipt is at the barn.

I already posted a couple pictures of my as yet unnamed "Q" filly (suggestions, anyone?) on my website in the "News/Foals" section. Better photos will follow, I was rather bleary eyed and it was sort of dark. It has been totally dreadful weather here, freezing and pouring rain. Hopefully I can take them out this weekend and get better photos when the weather is nicer. My vet was here this morning and he said that "Baby Q" was incredible across the board, healthwise, size, conformation, attitude and agility.

It is going to be a really tough decision for me if my French Kiss mare Tirana (bred to Plaisir d'Amour) also gives me a filly next month. I promised my saint of a husband I would keep no more than 1 filly per year to build my broodmare herd and sell all the colts. I absolutely love my French Kiss mare and I loved Pd'A. Thank goodness I bought alot of his FS to put in my tank before he died suddenly.

I really would like to keep "Q", but I already have an outstanding Quaterback daughter (3 y/o Quinoa from his first foal crop at Rastede) who is now 16.3, started under saddle and will probably be bred to French Kiss this year. I am going to have to work hard to talk him into letting me out of my promise and keep both!

[tveley]

Cindy, yes the link you have seems to be the new system I just got.

[Cindy's Warmbloods]

Thanks! I am going to order one!

[Rancho del Marr]

I just got my Breeder Alert yesterday and used it for the first time last night. I had several false alarms -- alarm sounded, looked at the camera and mare was just standing -- and one time when I looked at the camera she was lying out flat and it did NOT go off.

I should probably call the Breeder Alert people and ask what I might be doing wrong. But... this is the best place to find users of the product.

We followed all the directions. Any ideas???

I'm not trying to bash the product. I'm very excited about it, and even if it does have some false alarms, I'd rather use it than not.

[Rancho del Marr]

Nevermind... when I went out to take it off, it wasn't even on her halter. I found it buried in the bedding underneath her feeder. :rolleyes: Tonight I'll wrap the bandage around it to secure it better.:winkgrin:

[password]

Rancho, be sure that you don't get it tilted too far forward or it will keep going off also. It seems like there is a fine line with tight enough and too tight under the jaw.

[Rancho del Marr]

Thanks password... I'll keep that in mind when I put it on her tonight.

When I got home today, the lady from Breeder Alert had left a message saying that she had a couple of transmitters recently whose angles were off so she decided to send me a new one. Didn't think mine was going to be a problem but didn't want to take the chance and wait to find out if I had problems. Wow! That's some great customer service!!

[arizonard]

We used the Breeder Alert last year for the first time and were quite pleased with it. We also combine with cameras and milk testing and to maximize our sleep during foaling season! :D

[tveley]

My Breeder Alert has come in handy again, but in an unexpected way. My French Kiss mare Tirana is due in less than three weeks. She is huge. This is going to be her first foal, so we put the Breeder Alert on her yesterday since I do not know if she will be early, on time or late.

The Breeder Alert went off last night. When we went to check on her, she was down, but not foaling...she was colicking. We were able to give her some Banamine and walk her a while until she got comfortable again. It was good that we were able to help her with the colic, without the Breeder Alert, no one would have been there. She is miserable enough with the huge belly.

If anybody else has a horse that is prone to colic, you might consider using the Breeder Alert to let you know if the horse is down.

[Rancho del Marr]

Unfortunately, my system is not working correctly. I'm glad they've sent me another transmitter. I hope that's all it is. And I hope it gets here soon. My mare is 338 days today.

The one I have now does not go off when she lies out flat. I'll be watching her on the monitor, she lies down, I wait for the Breeder Alert to sound but it doesn't. I went out to check on her, she stood up and then it sounded. It just seems to go off randomly.

So apparently my transmitter is one of the ones with a problem. I'm really looking forward to getting one that works, but it may be too late! :no:

That's really great about it warning you of your mare colicking. Hope she's more comfortable now.